Powder metallurgy – basics & applications

Powder metallurgy – science of producing metal powders and making finished

/semifinished objects from mixed or alloyed powders with or without the addition of
nonmetallic constituents
Steps in powder metallurgy: Powder production, Compaction, Sintering, &
Secondary operations
Powder production:
Raw materials => Powder; Powders can be pure elements, pre-alloyed powders
Methods for making powders – Atomization: Produces powders of both ferrous and
non-ferrous powders like stainless steel, superalloys, Ti alloy powders; Reduction of
compounds: Production of iron, Cu, tungsten, molybdenum; Electrolysis: for making
Cu, iron, silver powders
Powders along with additives are mixed using mixers
Lubricants are added prior to mixing to facilitate easy ejection of compact and to
minimize wear of tools; Waxes, metallic stearates, graphite etc.
Powder characterization – size, flow, density, compressibility tests
R. Ganesh Narayanan, IITG
Compaction: compaction is performed using dies machined to close tolerances
Dies are made of cemented carbide, die/tool steel; pressed using hydraulic or
mechanical presses
The basic purpose of compaction is to obtain a green compact with sufficient strength
to withstand further handling operations
The green compact is then taken for sintering
Hot extrusion, hot pressing, hot isostatic pressing => consolidation at high
temperatures
Sintering: Performed at controlled atmosphere to bond atoms metallurgically; Bonding
occurs by diffusion of atoms; done at 70% of abs. melting point of materials
It serves to consolidate the mechanically bonded powders into a coherent body having
desired on service behavior
Densification occurs during the process and improvement in physical and mechanical
properties are seen
Furnaces – mesh belt furnaces (up to 1200C), walking beam, pusher type furnace,
batch type furnaces are also used
R. Ganesh Narayanan, IITG
Protective atmosphere: Nitrogen (widely used)
Secondary operations: Operations include repressing, grinding, plating can be done;
They are used to ensure close dimensional tolerances, good surface finish, increase
density, corrosion resistance etc.

R. Ganesh Narayanan, IITG

Flow chart for making P/M components
 Advantages & limitations
• Efficient material utilization
• Enables close dimensional tolerances – near net shape possible
• Good surface finish
• Manufacture of complex shapes possible
• Hard materials used to make components that are difficult to machine can be
readily made – tungsten wires for incandescent lamps
• Environment friendly, energy efficient
• Suited for moderate to high volume component production
• Powders of uniform chemical composition => reflected in the finished part
• wide variety of materials => miscible, immiscible systems; refractory metals
• Parts with controlled porosity can be made
• High cost of powder material & tooling
• Less strong parts than wrought ones
• Less well known process R. Ganesh Narayanan, IITG
 Production of powders
• Metal powders => Main constituent of a P/M product; final properties of the finished
P/M part depends on size, shape, and surface area of powder particles
• Single powder production method is not sufficient for all applications

Powder production methods: 1. Mechanical methods, 2. Physical methods, 3. Chemical

methods
1. Mechanical methods => cheapest of the powder production methods; These methods
involve using mechanical forces such as compressive forces, shear or impact to
facilitate particle size reduction of bulk materials; Eg.: Milling
Milling: During milling, impact, attrition, shear and compression forces are acted upon
particles. During impact, striking of one powder particle against another occurs.
Attrition refers to the production of wear debris due to the rubbing action between
two particles. Shear refers to cutting of particles resulting in fracture. The particles
are broken into fine particles by squeezing action in compression force type.
Main objective of milling: Particle size reduction (main purpose), Particle size growth,
shape change, agglomeration (joining of particles together), solid state alloying,
mechanical or solid state mixing, modification of material properties
R. Ganesh Narayanan, IITG
Mechanism of milling: Changes in the morphology of powder particles during milling
results in the following events.
1. Microforging, 2. Fracture, 3. Agglomeration, 4. Deagglomeration

Microforging => Individual particles or group of particles are impacted repeatedly so

that they flatten with very less change in mass
Fracture => Individual particles deform and cracks initiate and propagate resulting in
fracture
Agglomeration => Mechanical interlocking due to atomic bonding or vande Waals
forces
Deagglomeration => Breaking of agglomerates

The different powder characteristics influenced by milling are shape, size, texture,
particle size distribution, crystalline size, chemical composition, hardness, density,
flowability, compressibility, sinterability, sintered density

Milling equipment: The equipments are generally classified as crushers & mills
Crushing => for making ceramic materials such as oxides of metals; Grinding => for
reactive metals such as titanium, zirconium, niobium, tantalum
R. Ganesh Narayanan, IITG
Grinding: Different types of grinding equipments/methods are shown in the figure

Jaw crusher Gyratory crusher Roll crusher

Ball Mill Vibratory Ball Mill Attritor

Planetary
Rod Mill Mill
Hammer Mill

R. Ganesh Narayanan, IITG

Ball mills
• This contains cylindrical vessel rotating horizontally
along the axis. Length of the cylinder is more or less equal
to diameter. The vessel is charged with the grinding
media. The grinding media may be made of hardened
steel, or tungsten carbide, ceramics like agate, porcelain,
alumina, zirconia. During rolling of vessel, the grinding
media & powder particles roll from some height. This
process grinds the powder materials by impact/collision &
attrition.
• Milling can be dry milling or wet milling. In dry milling,
about 25 vol% of powder is added along with about 1 wt% Ball Mill
of a lubricant such as stearic or oleic acid. For wet milling,
30-40 vol% of powder with 1 wt% of dispersing agent
such as water, alcohol or hexane is employed.
• Optimum diameter of the mill for grinding powders is
about 250 mm

R. Ganesh Narayanan, IITG

Vibratory ball mill
• Finer powder particles need longer periods for grinding
• In this case, vibratory ball mill is better => here high amount
of energy is imparted to the particles and milling is
accelerated by vibrating the container
• This mill contains an electric motor connected to the shaft of
the drum by an elastic coupling. The drum is usually lined
with wear resistant material. During operation, 80% of the
container is filled with grinding bodies and the starting
material. Here vibratory motion is obtained by an eccentric
shaft that is mounted on a frame inside the mill. The rotation
of eccentric shaft causes the drum of the vibrating mill to
oscillate.
• In general, vibration frequency is equal to 1500 to 3000
Vibratory Ball Mill
oscillations/min. The amplitude of oscillations is 2 to 3 mm.
The grinding bodies is made of steel or carbide balls, that are
10-20 mm in diameter. The mass of the balls is 8-10 times the
charged particles. Final particle size is of the order of 5-100
R. Ganesh Narayanan, IITG
microns
Attrition mill: IN this case, the charge is ground to fine size by the action of a vertical
shaft with side arms attached to it. The ball to charge ratio may be 5:1, 10:1, 15:1. This
method is more efficient in achieving fine particle size.
Rod mills: Horizontal rods are used instead of balls to grind. Granularity of the
discharge material is 40-10 mm. The mill speed varies from 12 to 30 rpm.
Planetary mill: High energy mill widely used for producing metal, alloy, and composite
powders.

Fluid energy grinding or Jet milling:

The basic principle of fluid energy mill is to induce
particles to collide against each other at high
velocity, causing them to fractureR.into
Ganesh
fineNarayanan,
particles.IITG
• Multiple collisions enhance the reduction process and therefore, multiple jet
arrangements are normally incorporated in the mill design. The fluid used is either air
about 0.7 MPa or stream at 2 MPa. In the case of volatile materials, protective
atmosphere of nitrogen and carbon-di-oxide is used.
• The pressurized fluid is introduced into the grinding zone through specially
designed nozzles which convert the applied pressure to kinetic energy. Also materials
to be powdered are introduced simultaneously into the turbulent zone.
• The velocity of fluid coming out from the nozzles is directly proportional to the
square root of the absolute temperature of the fluid entering the nozzle. Hence it is
preferable to raise the temperature of fluid to the maximum possible level without
affecting the feed material.
• If further powdering is required, large size particles are separated from the rest
centrifugal forces and re-circulated into the turbulent zone for size reduction. Fine
particles are taken to the exit by viscous drag of the exhaust gases to be carried away
for collection.
• This Jet milling process can create powders of average particle size less than 5 µm

R. Ganesh Narayanan, IITG

Machining: Mg, Be, Ag, solder, dental alloy are specifically made by machining;
Turning and chips thus formed during machining are subsequently crushed or
ground into powders
Shotting: Fine stream of molten metal is poured through a vibratory screen into air
or protective gas medium. When the molten metals falls through screen, it
disintegrates and solidifies as spherical particles. These particles get oxidized. The
particles thus obtained depends on pore size of screen, temperature, gas used,
frequency of vibration. Metal produced by the method are Cu, Brass, Al, Zn, Sn,
Pb, Ni. (this method is like making Boondhi)
Graining: Same as shotting except that the falling material through sieve is
collected in water; Powders of cadmium, Bismuth, antimony are produced.

R. Ganesh Narayanan, IITG